


Going Hungry

by Peapods



Series: The Fire Thief [3]
Category: Twin Peaks
Genre: M/M, Pre-Relationship, Triggers, induced vomiting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-13
Updated: 2016-01-13
Packaged: 2018-05-13 19:35:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,770
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5714593
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Peapods/pseuds/Peapods
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Albert Rosenfield isn't going to leave Dale Cooper's side. Even if he doesn't know what the hell he's doing there.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Going Hungry

When they resuscitated Cooper, Albert didn’t leave town again as he was wont to do before. He told Harry, in no uncertain terms, that he would be remaining by Cooper’s side until the man could “ _walk out of this godforsaken ass crack of a town on his own damn feet._ ” Harry didn’t argue, only suggested that he and Cooper get a suite so at least Albert could sleep close by. 

Albert had regarded him suspiciously before taking the advice and having their belongings shifted to one of the suites.

If Albert slept in those two days after hospital discharge, he certainly never looked it when he dropped in on the station, trying to tie up the loose ends of Windom Earle and the slightly illegal medical procedure they had carried out on Cooper. His suits hung on his frame and his ties always looked half finished, with a school-boy half-Windsor and top button undone. He looked like he simply rolled out of bed and into the suit without any kind of care.

One night, bearing food and six pack of beer, Harry found out that his speculation wasn’t terribly off the mark. 

Albert answered the door in a navy FBI hoodie and faded jeans. He was rubbing at the sleep in his eyes and when he waved the Sheriff in, he rubbed at his neck. Harry quickly took in the low hum of the television and the sleeping form of Dale Cooper sacked out on the couch, head uncomfortably crooked. He saw the remote on the arm of the couch on that side and surmised that Albert’s thighs must have made a great pillow.

Albert was waking Cooper, speaking lowly to him, and the sleepy agent waved him off, taking the proffered pillow and shoving it under his head before drifting off again. Albert gestured for Harry to come through and they went into the other room where a small table and chairs were set up. Albert closed the door behind them and sighed like he’d just set down a heavy load.

“So when _was_ the last time you slept?” Harry asked as he pulled out styrofoam from the Double R. Norma didn’t particularly like the acerbic forensics genius, but even she had seen the circles under his eyes when he’d come in for coffee. She told Harry that he seemed to like her chicken parm and had snuck in extra breadsticks.

Albert’s lip quirked upward as he opened his dinner and he answered Harry’s question as he popped open one of the beers, “I get snatches. There’ve been a lot of nightmares.”

Harry opened his mouth to suggest Albert take a night off and let one of them stay with Cooper, but he only had to glance at Albert’s face to know that wouldn’t go over well.

“But he still sleeps?” Harry asked instead.

“Yeah. He wants to get better. He’s fighting to get there.”

They ate and drank in silence and Albert looked alert the whole time, like his ear was cocked in the direction of the other room. No sound but the quiet hum of the TV came. Finally they replaced the lids and Harry disposed of the trash. When he came back, Albert was cupping his beer to his chest and had his head resting over the back of the chair. He wasn't asleep. 

“How long have you been in love with him?” Harry asked roughly. Maybe he had picked up some of Cooper’s intuition.

Albert let out another of those deep sighs and if he was surprised by Harry's question he didn't show it.

“Long enough,” he answered.

*****

After Harry left, Albert finished off the rest of the beer, hoping for just a few hours sleep. He prodded Cooper, getting him off the couch and turning off the TV. Cooper hadn’t been out of pajamas in two days, so it was easy enough to pour him into the bed. He felt a vague discomfort pulling up the covers. He was not a kind man, nor given to these sort of compassionate impulses. Cooper brought out the worst sentiment in him.

“Thank you, Albert,” Cooper mumbled.

“Yeah, no problem,” Albert said gruffly, standing up and starting to move away. Cooper grabbed his wrist.

“I mean it, Albert. You can’t begin to know what your care has meant to me,” he said, voice becoming clearer as he spoke through the rough of sleep.

“No, really, don’t mention it,” Albert insisted, skin tingling where Cooper held onto him, heart expanding uncomfortably in his chest.

That night, it was not the nightmares that awoke him, but the sound of Cooper choking. He was up and into the bathroom before he even had time to fully open his eyes. In the bathroom, Cooper was swallowing down mouthwash like it was fucking Gatorade.

“Shit,” Albert said, tearing the bottle away, sending it flying all over the sink, a bit dribbling from Cooper’s mouth as he collapsed on the floor gagging. Albert wasted no time checking to see if the stuff was toxic. He bunched his hands in the shoulders of Cooper’s pajamas and hauled him to the toilet. The other man shook his head, mouth remaining resolutely closed. Albert didn’t even try to reason with him and clamped his fingers over his nose. Cooper fought him, but he was still weak from resuscitation and sleep and finally his mouth opened.

“Come on, Coop. Don’t make me stick my fingers down your throat,” he rasped out harshly.

Cooper, still gasping for air through his mouth, shook his head. Albert clenched his jaw and let go of his nose. Cooper didn’t have any time before Albert’s fingers were in his mouth, his arm supporting the other man around his stomach.

Albert felt the spasm on his arm and the rush of saliva on his fingers and pulled out of the way as the first wave of vomit splattered onto the toilet seat and into the water. That was all the incentive Cooper’s body needed to start expelling everything in his stomach and then some. Albert held him up for the worst of it and then went to retrieve a wet towel. He washed his hands and returned to the other agent, who had slowed to a stop and was leaning against the toilet bowl.

He wiped his forehead and cheeks, where involuntary tears had fallen, before wiping his mouth. Cooper’s eyes were closed and his mouth was unhappily downturned.

“You done?” Albert asked.

Cooper nodded. Albert filled a glass with water and handed to the other man. His hand was shaking, but having something to hold helped steady him. He swished the water and spat, cleaning out his mouth before taking small sips.

He stood under his own power and avoided Albert’s eyes.

“Don’t suppose you want to tell me what that was about? I mean, I’m all about good oral hygiene, but I’m pretty sure that stuff doesn’t work on any other part of the body, especially the insides.”

Cooper’s eyes betrayed him, flickering to the bedroom. Albert looked out and saw a Nutrigrain bar, half eaten, on the floor. He looked back at Cooper.

“Was it the taste? The texture?”

Cooper’s jaw clenched. “I just couldn’t, it was. I felt like was putting poison into my body, had to get it out.”

“I think my method would have been more logical,” Albert told him. Cooper looked lost and Albert didn’t know what to do. Doctors for the dead weren’t usually asked to heal damaged, _living_ psyches, disregarding the fact that no one had asked him. “You’ve eaten before. Kept it down. Why this? Why tonight?”

Albert didn’t want to interrogate the man, but he was running on a sleep deficit and hadn’t had to shove his fingers down someone else’s throat since college. Moreover, he needed to know. He needed to know if he needed to watch Cooper after eating, follow him to the restroom, police his every intake. He needed to know why soup, grilled cheese, and bacon had all stayed down, but a puny breakfast bar had thrown him for a loop. 

“It was fine then,” Cooper assured him. “I’m not sure why it happened tonight, with that bar. It was a sudden impulse, inescapable.”

That was less than reassuring for Albert because now he had no variables to work with. He let out a deep sigh before going into the bedroom, advising Cooper to brush his teeth. He disposed of the half eaten breakfast bar and pulled up the chair he’d spent a good amount of time in.

“No, Albert, please don’t-” Cooper protested, reappearing without the pajamas, only wearing his boxers and undershirt.

“You’re not leaving me a lot of choice, Coop. I’m not going to sit idly by while you poison yourself, or torture yourself with nightmares, or whatever other clever mechanisms your brain throws out to deal with this. Get in,” he ordered.

Cooper frowned, but did as he was told. He turned on his side facing Albert and stared at him uncomfortably.

“I don’t know what to do,” Cooper said. He didn’t ask the obvious question of why Albert cared, why Albert was there at all.

Albert rubbed his eyes and shoved his hands into the pocket of his hoodie, “That makes two of us.”

Whatever eloquence Albert’s expression managed to convey, it was enough to cause Cooper’s eyes to widen, his mouth to flatten out in surprise. Albert didn’t let the eye contact fail, too tired to care what was showing, too exhausted to paint over whatever conclusions Cooper’s quick, bright brain was coming to.

“We’re leaving in a few days,” Cooper said, relief and sadness warring in his tone.

“Yeah. Case is almost wrapped,” Albert appraised. “I’m handing off any loose ends to SAC Fincham out of Seattle. He’ll hook up with Gordon.”

Cooper’s eyes dropped, “Probably for the best.”

Albert desperately wanted to let out his acerbic reply of ‘ _Yes, especially for those us who think drinking mouthwash is a good substitute for therapy_ ,' but was held back by the lines on Cooper’s face, the grief that made something twist in Albert’s stomach. He hated this place, this town, with every fiber of his goddamn being, but Cooper had loved it at first sight, been seduced by it. Now, Albert feared, every idyllic aspect of the not-so-sleepy town had been tainted in Cooper’s eyes.

“Yeah,” he said instead. Cooper just nodded.

In the dim light, Cooper’s eyes slipped closed and his breathing evened out. As dawn continued its inevitable approach, Albert stayed at his side, self appointed guardian and reluctant knight.

**Author's Note:**

> Alternative Title: "Chicken Soup for the (Recently Annihilated) Soul."
> 
> This is part of the same universe as all my other Twin Peaks work with the exceptions of "Giving Caviar to an Elephant," and "Come From Way Above." All these stories are in aid of larger story I have been working on since Jan 31, 2012. I have no idea whether I will ever finish it, or finish it before Lynch can thoroughly Joss it.
> 
> Edit: Totally forgot a summary because I was posting in the middle of the work day like a slacker.


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